Clarion

CLARION 79

Paul searched until he found it: a squat, reddishbrown building dominated by a single white spire that curved up fifty meters or more to catch the last rays of the sun. A few smaller buildings were scattered behind it. A wall surrounded the entire complex.

"Look there in the back, where the wall has been built up higher."

Paul found the place Selmer was talking about. The wall was uniformly low around most of the temple complex, certainly no higher than a man's shoulders. But on the far side was a section that was raised above the rest. The heightened section ran only ten meters or so, and from what Paul could see there was no structural reason for it. He adjusted the focus control of the glasses. There was something on the raised section of wall. A dark smudge . . .

Then the smudge jumped into focus, and Paul's blood ran cold. Three bodies hung side by side on the wall, several feet above the ground. Their arms were outstretched as if their wrists had been fastened to the wall, and their feet were bound together. Their heads lolled.

"That's the God Wall," Ogram said. Paul couldn't take his eyes from the limp bodies. He saw no movement. "Are they dead?"

"Probably. Karyn said they were strung up three days ago. That means three days without food or water, with Jacowicz coming out from time to time to question them." Ogram placed a slight, bitter emphasis on the word question. "I'm sure they're dead by now."

"Who were they?"

"We don't know. They were probably found guilty of being heretics. Translated, that means they were accused of helping us."

"Were they?"

"No. We have a lot of friends in Fairhope. Some William Greenleaf

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of us even have family there. But we don't let them give us any help. Too dangerous for them."

"Why would Brill put them on the wall?"

"To make a point. He must have found out I followed Deacon Bekman when he went after

Dorland. High Elder Brill didn't like that, so he did this to make sure we understand."

Paul lowered the binoculars and stared at Selmer incredulously. "He would do that to people who aren't even connected with your group . . . just to make a point?"

Selmer nodded. "This isn't the first time. He wants to pressure us into turning ourselves in." Paul lifted the binoculars again and saw something along the bottom of the wall that he at first took to be light-colored vegetation. He focused the binoculars and realized they were piles of bones that had fallen from the wall and collected on the ground. He shuddered and turned the binoculars back to the temple. The area around it had been cleared of rubble and vegetation, and landscaped with a flat lawn, graceful trees and clumps of flowering shrubs. That alone made the temple grounds stand out, but even more conspicuous was the white spire. Selmer shrugged when Paul asked him about it.

"It's original. The Tal Tahir used the spire in a lot of their architecture."

"A symbol?"

Selmer shrugged again. "I don't know. I've heard that the Holy Order had the others torn down a long time ago. They left that one as a landmark for their Godsday services."

The smaller buildings clustered behind the temple were of obviously human design. Compared with the primitive look of Fairhope and the crumbled ruins around it, the temple complex had a sound, well-maintained look. Walkways connected the buildings to the temple and to one another.